The 2013 40K Cabal Tournament

[The following post was graciously provided by Sam, the Cabal's Necron player. Your humble blog administrator has made a few additions and edits where appropriate]

Cabal Escalation 2013 was hosted by Bryce on December 7th. The tournament was staged as “combat patrol” style battles with gradually increasing point limits. The final victory was awarded according to accumulated victory points.

The combat patrol style restrictions were based on the Adepticon rules, with a few variations. The rules were as follows:

• Force organization at all point limits thusly:
  
  • 0-1 HQ
    
  • 1-3 Troops
    
  • 0-1 Elites
    
  • 0-1 Fast Attack
    
  • 0-1 Heavy Support
    
  • 0-1 Wild Card (used to supplement some other category)
    
• No unique characters
  
• No model with more than 2 wounds
  
• No unit sizes greater than 20
  
• Vehicle restrictions thusly:
  
  • Dedicated transports may have armor values up to 12.
    
  • All other vehicles may have armor values up to 11.
    
  • To accommodate Necrons the vehicles were treated as having no Quantum shielding (effective armor 11) and given a point reduction.
    

I will present the armies, scenarios, and highlights of each game by round. Unfortunately, as I was playing Necrons, I don’t have the full details from the other games.

Scenario 1 – Eternal Darkness (400 Points)
While deploying to an uncharted area, you have missed your drop zone by many miles. All sensors are unfamiliar with the territory and the area is bathed in darkness. Your scouts have informed you that they have spotted an enemy force of unknown size in the area. It is your job to capture an enemy unit for “questioning” to further your knowledge of the enemy forces.

Victory Conditions: First Blood, Line Breaker, Kidnap Enemy Unit (2 Victory Points)

Kidnap Enemy Unit – To kidnap an enemy unit, the kidnapped unit must have been beaten in close combat by 2 or more unsaved wounds AND have at least one model left in the unit. If these conditions are met the unit is considered captured and the player who captured the unit cannot capture any further units for the rest of the game.

Imperial Guard:
1 Platoon:

• 5 Man Platoon Command Squad; Commander w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• Chimera transport w/ Heavy Bolter and Multi-Laser
• 7 Man Infantry Squad; Sergeant w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• 9 Man Infantry Squad w/ 1 Grenade Launcher; Sergeant w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• 1 Heavy Weapons Team w/ Heavy Bolter
  
• 6 Man Special Weapons Squad w/ 3 Demolition Charges
  

1 Scout Sentinel Squadron w/ 3 Scout Sentinels, each w/ a Multi-Laser

Ultramarines
6 Man Tactical Squad w/ 1 Flamer
6 Man Tactical Squad w/ 1 Flamer; Sergeant w/ Plasma Pistol & Chainsword

• Razorback transport w/ TL lascannon

5 Man Devastator squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers, Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

The Guard render the Razorback weaponless very quickly and secure First Blood by blowing up the embarked Tactical Squad with Demo Charges. However, that Razorback survived and started tank shocking the Guardsmen left and right. The Scout Sentinels and Devastators traded fire for most of the game, ending with the Devastators dead and the Scout Sentinels in Linebreaker position. The second Tactical Squad gets charged by two units of Guardsmen and loses the Sergeant when his Plasma Pistol overheats during overwatch [this seems to happen more often than not]. The Ultramarines pull through in the end, winning the combat and capturing the remaining Guardsmen. The game ends with carnage strewn across the battlefield and 2 victory points apiece.

Necrons
5 Warriors
8 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines
2 Heavy Destroyers
1 Annihilation Barge w/ Tesla Cannon

Grey Knights
5 Man Strike Squad w/ 1 Psycannon and 1 Daemon Hammer

• Razorback transport w/ TL lascannon

5 Man Strike Squad w/ 1 Psycannon and 1 Daemon Hammer

• Razorback transport w/ TL lascannon

Necrons cower for the first round and the Grey Knights can’t do much with the high value targets in cover. The Destroyers come out and try to burn a Razorback for First Blood, but are ineffective, while the Barge does minor damage. In turn two the Lascannon fire burns through the Annihilation Barge, awarding First Blood, while Storm Bolters and Psycannons start to pick away at the Necron infantry.

The Destroyers manage to blow one Razorback before succumbing to fire along with the Warriors. The Immortals recognize that only Linebreaker will award a tie and begin a mad rush for the enemy. They take heavy fire, but some lucky resurrections get them a few inches closer. They barely make it into combat with one of the Strike Squads just outside the Grey Knights deployment zone. The remaining Razorback takes up a blocking position, hoping to keep the Necrons out.

In the final turn the Necrons kill the last two Marines who barely fail their armor saves. The Immortals need 6 inches from consolidation to get one robot into the deployment zone around the Razorback, and they get it! The game ends with 1 victory point apiece.

Orks
20 Boyz w/ 19 Shootas and 1 Big Shoota
20 Boyz w/ 19 Shootas and 1 Big Shoota
10 Lootas

Tau
9 Man Fire Warrior Team
3 Man Stealth Team, each w/ a Burst Cannon
3 Man XV8 Crisis Team, each w/ a Burst Cannon & Missile Pod
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster

*No data returned; all combatants presumed KIA.*
[As I understand it, the Green Tide rolled over the opposition, as usual.]

Scenario 2 – Interrupt reinforcements (500 Points)
While scouting the territory, you encounter an enemy insurgent. Knowing that they are aware of your forces you know you must stop all communications with their command to prevent any enemy reinforcements to the area.

Victory Conditions: First Blood, Line Breaker, Destroy Communications Tower (2 Victory Points)

Communication Tower - T7 , W2, Sv3+, Stealth

Imperial Guard
1 Platoon:

• 5 Man Platoon Command Squad; Commander w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• Chimera transport w/ Heavy Bolter and Multi-Laser
• 7 Man Infantry Squad w/ 1 Grenade Launcher; Sergeant w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• 9 Man Infantry Squad w/ 1 Grenade Launcher; Sergeant w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• 1 Heavy Weapons Team w/ Heavy Bolter
  
• 6 Man Special Weapons Squad w/ 3 Demolition Charges
  

1 Scout Sentinel Squadron w/ 3 Scout Sentinels, each w/ a Multi-Laser

5 Man Storm Trooper Squad w/ 1 Meltagun

Necrons
5 Warriors
9 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines
2 Heavy Destroyers
2 Canoptek Wraiths w/ 2 Particle Casters
1 Annihilation Barge w/ Tesla Cannon

The first turn progresses as a comedy of errors. Necrons steal the initiative and move aggressively towards the Guard. This backfires as 1 of the Destroyers bashes his main processor out on some difficult terrain and the other fails to hit anything. The Annihilation Barge and Immortals unleash the Tesla guns on a squad, hoping for First Blood, but only kill a few Guardsmen. Least effective steal the initiative ever.

The Guard respond by blowing away the remaining Destroyer, claiming First Blood. The Heavy Weapons Squad then tries to end the Wraiths with three Demo Charges. Two hit, and kill a Wraith, but one hapless Guardsman scatters his Demo Charge directly back, killing half his squad and stunning the Chimera.

In turn two the last Wraith makes a leap for the Comm Tower and assaults while the Barge brings the love, numerous hits resulting in one glancing hit and 5 penetrating hits on the Scout Sentinel squadron. Kaboom! The Immortals blast away at the hapless Guardsmen. The Guard forces are diminishing quickly, but respond with their ace in the hole: the Commandos accurately Deep Strike right onto the Necron Comm Tower, but fail to damage it. The Chimera rushes by the Guard Comm Tower and steals it from the Wraith while the remaining Guardsmen manage to destroy the Barge after a tactical error in which the Necrons trade a Jink save for higher fire power.

In the next Necron turn the Warriors and Immortals backtrack to protect the Comm Tower and start to whittle away the Commandos while the Wraith again charges the Guard Comm Tower and destroys it. The Guard are looking thin, but make their bid for victory. The Commandos again try to take down the Necron Comm Tower, but fail. In the last turn the Wraith takes up position to destroy the Chimera within the deployment zone, the Immortals and Warriors cut down the Commandos, and Bryce calls the game. Final Tally: 1 point to Imperial Guard, 3 points to Necrons.

Tau
9 Man Fire Warrior Team
3 Man XV8 Crisis Team, each w/ a Burst Cannon & Missile Pod
3 Man XV8 Crisis Team, two Battlesuits w/ a Missile Pod & Plasma Rifle and one Battlesuit with two Plasma Rifles
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster
4 Man Pathfinder Team w/ Markerlights & Pulse Carbines

Grey Knights
5 Man Strike Squad
5 Man Strike Squad
1 Vindicare Assassin
2 Razorbacks w/ twin-linked Lascannons

The Vindicare Assassin is put to good use killing Battlesuits and the Tau retaliates by destroying one Razorback. The remaining Razorback and the Strike Squads bring down the Comm Tower and completely destroy the Fire Warriors. The game ends with 3 points to the Grey Knights and 1 to the Tau.

Ultramarines
6 Man Tactical Squad w/ 1 Flamer; Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

• Razorback transport w/ TL lascannon

5 Assault Terminators w/ 1 Stormshield & Thunder Hammer and 4 pairs of Lightning Claws
5 Man Devastator Squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers; Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

Orks
20 Boyz w/ 18 Shootas and 2 Big Shootas
20 Boyz w/ 18 Shootas and 2 Big Shootas
10 Lootas
3 Big Gunz w/ Kannons, 10 Gretchin, 1 Runtherd, & 3 Ammo Runts

[Sealed by the Inquisition; it's best that the degree to which the Ultramarines were stomped not be revealed. Suffice it to say, the Ultramarines had no confidence that their 500 point list could take on a horde and were proven correct.]

Scenario 3 - Exterminatus (600 Points)
You have just intercepted a message from the Imperial Battleship Triton stating that the planet that you are on has been slated for Exterminatus. A Nova Cannon blasts the planet's surface each turn at a specified beacon location (center of the board). A single unit can capture the beacon and if held for an additional turn (until the end of the controlling player's turn) that unit is immediately teleported off planet.

Victory Conditions: First Blood, Slay the Warlord (highest leadership unit), Teleported Unit (3 Victory Points)

Nova Cannon S10, AP2, Small Blast*, Barrage
*Small Blast scatters 2d6 inches from beacon location at the beginning of each players turn. Hits from the Nova Cannon are resolved prior to the movement phase in the given turn.

Ultramarines
10 Man Tactical Squad w/ 1 Flamer; Sergeant w/ Melta Bombs, Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

• Drop Pod transport

5 Assault Terminators w/ 2 Stormshields & Thunder Hammers and 3 pairs of Lightning Claws
5 Man Devastator Squad w/ 4 Missile Launchers; Sergeant w/ Bolt Pistol & Chainsword

• Razorback transport w/ TL lascannon

Tau
9 Man Fire Warrior Team
2 Man XV8 Crisis Team, each w/ a Burst Cannon & Missile Pod
3 Man XV8 Crisis Team, two Battlesuits w/ a Missile Pod & Plasma Rifle and one Battlesuit with two Plasma Rifles
1 Piranha w/ Fusion Blaster
3 Man XV88 Broadside Team, each with TL Heavy Rail Rifle & TL Smart Missile System

The Tactical Squad lands in the first turn, mostly survives a round of shooting from the XV88s, and assaults the Broadsides by the second, tying them up for the rest of the game. The Razorback explodes the Piranha, earning the Marines a Victory Point for First Blood. The Terminators sit on the objective and absorb multiple missiles, Burst Cannon rounds, and plasma shots from two squads of Crisis Battlesuits. For the most part the Storm Shields keep the squad in the game despite the amount of AP2 coming their way. However, the Sergeant is eventually lost, giving the Tau Slay the Warlord. The Devastators keep the heat off the Terminators by picking the Battlesuits off one by one. Two Lightning Claw Terminators are left standing when they are finally teleported, gaining the Astartes 3 Victory Points for a 4 to 1 victory.

Imperial Guard
1 Platoon:

• 5 Man Platoon Command Squad; Commander w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• Chimera transport w/ Heavy Bolter and Multi-Laser
• 7 Man Infantry Squad w/ 1 Grenade Launcher; Sergeant w/ Laspistol and Close Combat Weapon
  
• 9 Man Infantry Squad w/ 1 Grenade Launcher; Sergeant w/ Laspistol & Close Combat Weapon
  
• 1 Heavy Weapons Team w/ Heavy Bolter
  
• 6 Man Special Weapons Squad w/ 3 Demolition Charges
  
• 6 Man Special Weapons Squad w/ 3 Demolition Charges
  

1 Scout Sentinel Squadron w/ 3 Scout Sentinels, each w/ a Multi-Laser

5 Man Storm Trooper Squad w/ 1 Meltagun

Grey Knights
5 Man Strike Squad w/ Nemesis Falchions, 1 Psycannons & 1 Daemon Hammer
5 Man Strike Squad w/ Nemesis Falchions, 1 Psycannons & 1 Daemon Hammer
2 Razorbacks w/ twin-linked Lascannons

*No data returned; all combatants presumed KIA.*

Orks
20 Boyz w/ Shootas
20 Boyz w/ Shootas
20 Boyz w/ Shootas
10 Lootas 3 Big Gunz w/ Kannons, 10 Gretchin, 1 Runtherd, & 3 Ammo Runts

Necrons
8 Warriors
10 Immortals w/ Tesla Carbines
1 Triarch Stalker w/ twin-linked Heavy Gauss Cannon
2 Heavy Destroyers
1 Annihilation Barge w/ Tesla Cannon

The Necrons knew that they couldn’t hold the Boyz off the objective. The Tesla and Gauss slingers simply formed a line to try blasting Boyz as they approached the marker. But with half the army geared for killing tanks and some poor rolling, they just couldn’t make a statement. The Boyz marched forward with only slight losses, while the return fire from so many Shootas and incoming support from Lootas and Kannons cleaned the Necrons out by turn 3. With every Ork unit still on the board to claim the Transport Beacon the game ended with 5 victory points to the green hoard and the undead skulking back to their tomb world with nothing to show for their effort.

[I can't remember the exact scores, but Best General went to Jon and his Orks.]

Escalation and 40K Formations

Just over a week ago I jotted down some preliminary thoughts on Escalation. Now that people are finally getting their copies, we have a little bit more information. My biggest question has finally been answered, and it wasn't the answer I was hoping for.

Army Detachments and Lords of War

As is obvious to regular readers of this blog, I play an Ultramarine army. Although the Space Marines don't generally have direct access to Baneblade or Shadowsword variants, Super-Heavy tanks operated by the Imperial Guard or a PDF often accompany the Astartes into battle. In the story of the Battle of Macragge, we're told that the Ultramar Auxilia had a Baneblade called the Pride of Hera that was eventually destroyed by a Carnifex brood.

Although the Baneblade and Shadowsword variants are Imperial Guard Super-Heavy tanks, I had hoped that Astartes armies would be allowed to bring one as their Lord of War choice. Barring that, I had assumed that I would be able to bring an Imperial Guard Allied Detachment (which I would depict as the Ultramar Auxilia) that would supply the Lord of War. Unfortunately, the word is now out that a Lord of War can only be provided by the Primary Detachment.

Before this month, I wouldn't have been surprised by how strict Escalation is. For the sake of balance, it would have made perfect sense to me that only the Primary Detachment would be allowed to supply the Lord of War, although I still would have been disappointed that my Ultramarines would only have access to a prohibitively expensive model. However, it's hard to explain the relative conservatism of Escalation in light of the no-holds-barred nature of the recently introduced 40K Formations.

40K Formations
For those who are unfamiliar with the new 40K Formations, the idea is that, in addition to the Primary Detachment and any Allied Detachment, an army can also take along an additional detachment composed of a specific group of units. This Formation interacts with the Primary Detachment according to allies rules (e.g., a Space Marine detachment would treat a Tau Formation as Battle Brothers) but it is otherwise unaffected by normal Force Organization rules.

One word: "Broken"

Our Cabal is pretty open-minded, but Formations immediately worried us. The concern lay in the fact that they completely bypass the Force Organization of an Allied Detachment. The only thing that had previously limited allies was the fact that you were required to bring an HQ and at least one Troop. Once you had paid this "price of admission", you were limited to selecting a single unit from each of the remaining slots. This forced the player to make some hard choices about what tradeoffs he was willing to make and prevented him from loading up on only the best units from another army.

However, Formations eliminate most of the drawbacks deliberately designed into the allies rules. The first Formation revealed, Tau Firebase Support Cadre, consists of a Riptide Battlesuit and six Broadsides. It doesn't require a player to sink points into an HQ or Troops that he doesn't necessarily want. Instead, as long as he has the points and the relatively liberal Allies Matrix allows it, he can add a very powerful Elite choice and two Heavy Support choices to his Primary Detachment. Unless an opponent has brought some Formations of his own, it could be a very uneven and unenjoyable game for him.

I appreciate that GW wants to open up their rules for those who want more options (they seem to be producing a small-scale form of Apocalypse), and I'm sure that there are plenty of players who will have a lot of fun using Formations, but the Cabal has made a gentleman's agreement not to use them just to keep our games friendly.

Back to Escalation
As I was saying, the philosophy behind the Escalation rules and the concept of Formations seem to be at odds. In a game where my Ultramarines can take a Firebase Support Cadre free of any of the usual limitations that come with an Allied Detachment, why can't Marines with Imperial Guard allies bring a Baneblade? Not only is this inconsistent from a gaming perspective, but it's entirely contrary to the fluff.

I was really hoping to bring this in an allied force

I have two theories on why GW might have decided to go this way. My first is that the writers of Escalation and the writers of the Formation rules weren't quite on the same page. I assume that the authors of the former actually wanted to limit Allied shenanigans (e.g., no Tau Primary Detachment accompanied by a minimal Eldar force and their Revenant Titan). It's also possible that they wanted to increase the diversity of units on the tabletop. Given how inexpensive Baneblades and Shadowswords are (both monetarily and points-wise) and since IG can ally with just about everyone, a huge number of Escalation games could easily end up with both sides bringing some form of Baneblade.

My second theory has to do with business. Obviously, the primary intent of both Formations and Escalation is to make money. I'm sure that the rules writers and model designers also want us to enjoy the game, but at the end of the day they like to eat and have a roof over their heads, too. I previously suggested that the point of introducing Super-Heavies into regular games of 40K was to increase the demand for large plastic models. I think that the restrictions of Escalation support this idea and may indicate the imminent release of additional models.

With its high points value, the
Revenant Titan is bargain

If I worked at GW and were asked to increase demand for large plastic models, I think I would come up with something like Escalation. Not everyone has the time or the money to play huge Apocalypse games, so I would introduce Super-Heavies into the regular game. And what if the company was interested in releasing plastic versions of existing resin models, but didn't want to proceed until they were certain that there would be sufficient demand? Since many of those who play an army without its own plastic Super-Heavy (e.g., Space Marines, Tau, Eldar) would simply bring an IG allied force with a Super-Heavy tank if given the option (and might even be reluctant to buy their faction-specific Super-Heavy when it was finally released), I would require that the Lord of War be specific to the Primary Detachment.

Escalation and the Legendary Plastic Thunderhawk
To be able to compete in Escalation, some players might end up buying a resin Super-Heavy from Forge World. Fortunately, the new supplement limits armies to bringing only the "smallest" Super-Heavies. At the current exchange rate, the Tau Tiger Shark is $244, the Eldar Revenant Titan is $319, and the Tyranid Harridan is $384. These prices are much higher than the $160 GW charges for a Khorne Lord of Skulls or a Necron Tesseract Vault, but I can actually see many serious gamers saving up for them.

After looking over a few of my 2000 point lists, I've calculated that the total monetary value of the models in each list is around $650. That means that the price of most Escalation-legal Forge World models is about half that of a 2000 point Space Marine army. (And who owns only 2000 points, anyway?) At $319, the 900 point Revenant Titan turns out to be a pretty good value. It costs about 50% as much as a 2000 point army while its addition to that army would increase its total points value by 45%.

Where we really run into a problem is with the Lord of War for GW's most popular faction; i.e., Space Marines in their various incarnations. The Thunderhawk is worth 685 points and can reach a value of 775 points with the Turbo-laser destructor upgrade. The model, while admittedly much larger than many other Super-Heavy models, currently sells for over $650. That's more than twice as much as a Revenant Titan and four times as much as GW's most expensive plastic model. An upgraded Thunderhawk would cost as much as an entire 2000 point army but add only 39% to the points value of the army. In other words, Escalation limits players of GW's most popular armies to the resin-only model with the least bang for their buck.

When it comes to 40K I'm pretty stupid with money, but even I can't justify a $650 price tag for a single 775 point resin model.

Why would GW limit C:SM players to the Thunderhawk?

I think the primary reason why GW limited thousands of Space Marine players to fielding the prohibitively expensive Thunderhawk is because it won't be that expensive for much longer. My theory is that Escalation and its restriction against Space Marines taking an IG Super-Heavy in an Allied Detachment will have finally created the demand GW wanted/needed to justify making their largest plastic kit ever (which will still be smaller than some of the model airplanes I put together as a kid). I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the mythical plastic Thunderhawk by the first anniversary of Escalation.

What Do We Do Until Then?
I predict that many Astartes fans who want to participate in games using the Escalation supplement will choose to field a single Guard Command Squad and two squads of Veterans as their Primary Detachment just so they can play with a cheap Super-Heavy tank. Their preferred army will be represented by a maxed-out Allied Detachment. In fact, about a week ago I made a theoretical 2500 point IG list that included a Super-Heavy tank and Ultramarine allies just in case the Lord of War was restricted to the Primary. Even with a Baneblade or a Shadowsword, the minimized IG Primary Detachment only took up about 35% of the total points value.

Bryce has already offered to buy my Baneblade and Shadowsword models for his own Steel Legion. If I knew for certain that a plastic Thunderhawk were on its way, I would strongly consider it. Right now, though, I'm actually rather fond of the Guard Super-Heavies and will probably end up buying a minimal Guard army just so I can use them.

Apocalypse Is On Its Way

One of Bryce's goals was to eventually get us to Apocalypse-sized games. As the rumors of a new edition of Apocalypse heated up, I decided to get ready:

These little items arrived from the WarStore earlier this month. While I had intended to begin the Ultramar Auxilia with a few Leman Russes and the units that come with the Battleforce, it looks like Ultramar's defense force will be starting out with a couple super-heavies instead.

It turns out that I saved a few bucks by buying them when I did; instead of each tank being sold separately for $115, the two or three sprues that are unique to the Shadowsword are now included in a new "Imperial Guard Baneblade" box that sells for $140.

Within an hour of availability, I bought the Apocalypse rule book, the Imperial Targeting Templates (Bryce is going to be annoyed that his old templates are now obsolete), the limited edition Vortex Grenade Template (I still don't get why such a simple item is limited edition), and the Strategic Asset Cards (also inexplicably limited).

I have yet to purchase the new fortifications, though, since I'll probably get them through the WarStore. What's exciting is that they can be used for both Apocalypse and 40K, with the rules for the latter being included in the box. With these fortifications, it looks like GW is serious in making gun emplacements more than just a gimmick or a minor aspect of the game. The Aquila Strongpoint is armed with vortex missiles and a macro cannon that are capable of threatening super-heavies. While I assume that the Strongpoint's weaponry will be downgraded for standard games of 40K, the Firestorm Redoubt with its 40K-appropriate lascannon batteries looks like it could be a mean addition to any army.

The Firestorm Redoubt

I'm interested to know how these fortifications will fit into the 40K limit of one fortification per Primary Detachment. It may have something to do with the fact that these new kits are designed to match up with the Wall of Martyrs sets, whose lack of rules or points values have caused a lot of confusion. I wonder if the rules will designate an assembly of fortifications linked by the Wall of Martyrs defence lines, emplacements, and/or Imperial bunkers as a single fortification with points values assigned for each segment, emplacement, bunker, etc.

A Few Thoughts on Ultramar Auxilia Allies

Last year I said that I would be starting a Tyranid army once my Ultramarine army was done or at least farther along. Although I've not given up on the idea of building a Hive Fleet Behemoth or Behemoth splinter force, the addition of allies to 6th Edition has significantly changed my plans.

It wasn't until later that someone pointed out that
the Ultramarines use the colors of my alma mater

To be honest, I started an Ultramarine army because I wanted to do Space Marines and because I'm partial to the blue, white, and gold color scheme of the Ultramarines' second company. I realized that I made a good choice when I read up on the fluff surrounding that Chapter and the Ultramar System. I was particularly interested in the relationship between the Ultramarines and the Ultramar Auxilia. Although technically a Planetary Defense Force (well, I guess it would be more of a System Defense Force), the Auxilia is portrayed in GW and Black Library material as being a highly trained force that has regiments constantly ready for deployment outside of the Ultramar System. Externally deployed regiments have even fought alongside the Ultramarines (which only makes sense considering that the Ultramarines Chapter rules the Ultramar System and is technically the Auxilia's direct political authority).

I've long envied the Imperial Guard's Heavy Support options (I've since become irrationally fond of the Leman Russ design) and saw the Auxilia as an interesting way to bring IG weaponry to the table in support of the Ultramarines. The chance to add more variety to my army in the form of less costly support troops and a greater choice of vehicles was also appealing. However, under 5th Edition I was reluctant to start an Auxilia force since there was no official way to incorporate allied armies and I didn't necessarily want to build a standalone IG army.

Then 6th Edition came along and GW gave us an official way to add allies to our main armies. After working through a few potential arrangements (some with the Marines as the primary detachment, some with the Auxilia as the main force), I realized that I could pretty easily assemble some competitive lists featuring the Ultramarines and their Auxilia.

Since there aren't any official description of what Auxilia troops look like, I'm going to have to figure out how to build and paint such a force. Some sources indicate that Cadian gear is considered the standard for Imperial Guard regiments. Given the Ultramarines' obsession with standardization and the fact that the Ultramar Auxilia is supposed to be able to either fight alongside the Imperial Guard or to be incorporated into it as needed, I think it can be assumed that Auxilia troops would look similar to Cadian shock troops (this would be a budget-friendly decision given that Cadian figures are GW's standard IG models). Since blue seems to be the representative color for the Ultramar System, I would probably paint the Auxilia's helmets and flak armor Macragge Blue. For contrast, I'll probably paint the cloth portions of the uniform either gray or a light khaki. For diversity, I've considered painting each trooper's right shoulder pad with colors representing his homeworld. The left shoulder pad could have the number of his squad. I toyed with the idea of painting the inverted omega on the troopers, but decided that the symbol should be reserved for the Ultramarines themselves, although I may paint a small emblem on the Auxilia's veteran sergeants and officers as a mark of honor.

Does it come in gray? Perhaps with some blue highlights?

As for the vehicles, they would be the stock IG variants, although a few details may be different. For example, frequently replaced add-on items such as smoke launchers and searchlights might be shared between Ultramarine and Auxilia vehicles. The Auxilia's vehicles should sport at least some of Ultramar's trademark color, although it just wouldn't seem right to me for their tanks to be entirely blue. The privilege of painting their vehicles entirely in the color of Ultramar (as well as the utter disdain for the concept of camouflage) belongs to the Ultramarines. Thus, the Auxilia's vehicles will probably be painted in shades of gray with a few blue markings. Again, as with the troopers, the vehicles would forgo the use of the inverted omega. I might just go with a simple "ULTRA" on their hulls.

Unfortunately, I've gotten pretty excited about building an Auxilia army, but I still have a huge number of unbuilt Space Marine models. Curse my slow building pace.

Orks and Imperial Guard vs. Ultramarines, Part II

[See Part I of this series]

Although things were looking bleak for the Ultramarines, a glimmer of hope came when my Terminator squad assaulted Jon's mob of 'Ard Boyz. The mob had been whittled down through bolter fire and was very close to losing Mob Rule. Although the Big Mek's power weapon was able to take out two Terminators, the other three were able to survive long enough to inflict the damage necessary to cause the mob to fall back and eventually run off the table. As much as I would have liked to back off and get a couple of turns to wear down a second mob that was only a short distance behind the first, the mob was too close to avoid further close combat. The Terminators fired into the second mob and assaulted to ensure that the Orks wouldn't get their furious charge. This fight saw the end of the Terminators but not before they severely weakened the second mob. When the mob headed towards the Tactical Squad, they were slaughtered by bolter fire and the survivors ran off the board. A quick count showed that the Terminators earned back their points, which is something that particular squad seems to struggle at.

Greenskins slaughtered or your money back

Near the end of the game the assault half of my Tactical Squad was finished off by Loota and Guard fire, although not before it wiped out a squad of Guardsmen that was perfectly positioned to be hit with a flamer template. I rarely have such success with a flamer. The heavy weapon half of the squad was wiped out in a single turn when one of Bryce's squads used the Bring It Down! rule to twin-link their plasma rifles. Fortunately, the missile launcher in my squad was able to destroy the lascannon on one of Bryce's two Sentinels before being killed. I was soon left with a wounded Captain, a weaponless but still mobile Land Raider, and a disarmed Venerable Dreadnought locked in endless combat with a Sentinel and a squad of Guardsmen. On the other side of the fight, Jon had lost two of his three mobs and his Lootas had taken several casualties. Although he still had two DeffKoptas available, they were doing only a small amount of damage. Bryce had an immobilized Basilisk that seemingly couldn't hit the broadside of a barn (thank the Emperor), two Sentinels with destroyed lascannons, a Chimera, and various Guardsmen spread across the table.

After briefly loading him into the Land Raider to protect him from Jon's Lootas, the Captain disembarked from the tank's ramp to launch a one man assault on a mob of Boyz and one Nob. For whatever reason, the Captain has a bizarre amount of luck and has rarely disappointed me. He once survived several rounds of combat with a Hive Tyrant and three Tyranid Warriors. He made four or five consecutive Iron Halo saves, an even greater number of armor saves, and managed to kill the Hive Tyrant and a Warrior before finally being lost. The Captain didn't disappoint me this time, either.

My shiny armor will drive off the Xenos scum!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the Captain standing on the assault ramp but I keep forgetting to bring a camera to our games. I couldn't help but to imagine an angry and vengeful Space Marine Captain emerging from a smoking Land Raider, igniting his power sword, and running directly into a horde of slavering Orks while screaming something about the Emperor. The Captain charged into the waiting Orks, dished out some punishment, made all but one armor save, and made an Iron Halo save against the Nob's power klaw. The unfortunate Orks, having lost combat and being below the minimum numbers required to benefit from Mob Rule, failed their morale check and fell back. Since they had also been reduced to less than half their original size, they were unable to regroup and ran off the table.

Looking for more Greenskin blood, the Captain made a headlong rush towards the two DeffKoptas. He assaulted one and managed to inflict a wound. While the two were locked in combat, the Basilisk made yet another attempt to destroy the Land Raider. The shot drifted significantly and managed to land directly on the Captain and the two Ork units. Both DeffKoptas were destroyed while the Captain again made an Iron Halo save. When the dust had settled the Captain found himself in the open and was gunned down by the Lootas. Win or lose, it's moments like the Captain's last stand that make 40K worth playing.

It was kind of like this... but he was alone

Eventually the Basilisk succeeded in destroying the Land Raider. The Venerable Dreadnought went round after round with the Sentinel and the Guardsmen before a melta bomb finally destroyed it. (I was so groggy by that point that I directed all my attacks against the Sentinel; I would have had a lot more luck killing the Guardsmen.) The final count showed that Jon and Bryce had approximately 300 points remaining of their 1500 point army. Although the Marines lost, it wasn't by too much. And I felt that the Ultramarines had performed pretty well against an alliance that combines the Orks' very good close combat ability with the Guard's powerful and versatile ranged weaponry.

Lessons Learned

Pay Attention!
I seemed particularly scatterbrained that night and didn't take a systematic approach to using my units. I made Telion and a Scout with a missile launcher worthless for two turns by putting my Venerable Dreadnought in front of them. The Dreadnought was quickly stunned and the Scouts couldn't shoot their heavy weapons the next turn because I had to move them. I kept forgetting to use my drop pod's storm bolter, which was perfectly located to kill the Lootas that plagued me all night. And early in the game I actually forgot to fire my still-intact Land Raider's weapons. Since Bryce is a great guy he let me fire a twin-linked lascannon at his Guard early in his and Jon's following turn. It ended up destroying a Sentinel's lascannon. Thanks Bryce!

Venerable Dreadnoughts
A lot of Space Marine players balk at the cost of a Venerable Dreadnought, believing that it's not worth the improved ballistic and weapons skills and questioning the worth of the Venerable rule (i.e., the ability to require your opponent to re-roll on the vehicle damage table after he glances or penetrates the Dreadnought's armor). However, during the Grey Knights/Ultramarines game a couple weeks ago and during this past game, the Venerable rule saved my Dreadnought several times. Paying an extra 60 points to give your Dreadnought a very good chance of surviving vehicle destroyed or vehicle explodes results has proven to be worth it more than once. It's certainly cheaper than the cost of an additional Dreadnought. Carl can vouch for the staying power of his Venerables.

Indirect Value of a Unit
Sometimes a unit doesn't have to kill its own value to be worth the cost. My Venerable Dreadnought killed very few points since it spent the vast majority of the game stunned or shaken. (I seem to remember that at least one of those times was thanks to a vehicle destroyed result that was re-rolled as a stunned result.) However, by being a perpetual threat it was a constant target for Jon's Lootas. Each turn that the Lootas poured their shots into the Dreadnought was another turn in which they weren't shooting at more vulnerable units. I wouldn't be surprised if the Venerable Dreadnought effectively earned its points in the form of Jon's opportunity costs. Bryce often uses his Eldar Wraithlord for this very purpose. He never builds his strategy around it. Instead, because it's a big, scary monstrous creature that's hard to ignore, he uses it as a fire magnet to protect more vulnerable but more strategically important units.

Bringing a Gun to a Knife Fight
I've said it before; a Devastator Squad with four missile launchers is of little value against a horde army. For the exact same cost the squad could carry heavy bolters that would put out three times the shots. Although the heavy bolters would wound most Orks on threes instead of twos, their increased volume of fire would easily compensate for the lower weapon strength while their AP value would still deny armor saves to Nobz and 'Ard Boyz. Given that I was facing both Orks as well as mechanized Guard, a mix of heavy bolters and missile launchers may have been appropriate. Unfortunately, I prefer to play with models I have rather than to proxy a different unit. Thus, I stuck with four missile launchers despite knowing them to be less effective against the armies I was fighting.

The Land Raider had staying power... and was also completely inadequate for fighting so many models. It was able to take out a Sentinel's lascannon and a few Lootas (darn those cover saves), but I really needed to whittle down the mobs more. With the shear volume of shots that a twin-linked assault cannon and two hurricane bolters can produce, a Land Raider Crusader would have slaughtered the Ork mobs and sent them running. The moderately armored Sentinels might have been taken care of with the Crusader's twin-linked assault cannon or its multi-melta.

Standard Terminators are tank killers or a highly survivable but extremely expensive source of bolter fire, not a close combat squad. An initiative of 1 and a mere 5+ invulnerable save makes them expensive sitting ducks if the opponent has his own power weapons (e.g., an Ork Big Mek). The Terminators earned their points this game only because they had a lot of luck making armor saves against a huge number of attacks, because the Big Mek only killed two of them before the squad could make the mob run, and because they were able to do enough damage to the second mob before dying that a Tactical Squad could force the Orks to fall back with bolter fire. A close combat Terminator Squad would have been significantly more effective. Pairs of lightning claws would have given each Terminator four attacks on the charge while allowing re-rolls for fails to wound (this is vital when your opponent's toughness equals your strength). Thunder hammer and storm shield-carrying Terminators would have low initiative but high survivability against an enemy with power weapons. In this game, three or four Terminators with lightning claws would have been able to reduce the number of opponents while one or two Terminators with thunder hammers and storm shields could have borne the brunt of the power attacks.

Appropriately Using a Unit
I wasted the Tactical Squad by not being aggressive enough. In a game where I was vastly outnumbered, three Marines with bolt guns, one Marine with a flamer, a sergeant with a chain sword and plasma pistol, and a Marine Captain spent much of their time crammed into a corner of the table staying out of the Lootas' line of sight. I should have rushed the ruins in which the Lootas were hiding after the nearby mobs were running or were tied up with the Terminators. Also, I'm starting to wonder whether using the Combat Squad rule is all it's cracked up to be. Typically I break a Tactical squad into an assault half (three bolters, a special assault or rapid fire weapon, the sergeant, and my HQ) and a heavy weapon half (four bolters and a heavy weapon). Too many times I've let four Marines stand idly by so that I can fire a lone missile launcher. In the meantime, the assault half rushes in and finds that it just doesn't have the volume of shots needed to do the job or enough bodies to tolerate the incoming fire. A heavy bolter in this game, or a lascannon in a game with more vehicles, might make it worth it to break into Combat Squads. However, in a game in which so many opposing units are denied armor saves by AP 5 weapons, it would probably be more effective to keep the squad together and to take on the enemy with simple bolt guns. Given the threat the Lootas posed, this would have been a good game in which to have a Rhino.

More Effective Use of a Force Organization Slot?
Although the Venerable Dreadnought occupied the Lootas' attention for most of the game, I have to wonder if drop podding in a Sternguard Squad and directly attacking the Lootas wouldn't have been a more effective use of an elite slot. Tying up the Orks wasn't quite the same as eliminating them since they did a lot of damage to other squads when they weren't shooting at the Dreadnought. Given the Orks' high toughness but poor armor saves, the Sternguard's AP 5, 2+ poisoned hellfire rounds could have been very useful. It would also be interesting to compare the effectiveness of my Terminators to that of a Sternguard.

Orks and Imperial Guard vs. Ultramarines, Part I

This weekend's gaming saw a rematch between Carl's Grey Knights and Kevin's Dark Eldar as well as a vicious 1500 point face-off between the Ultramarines and Bryce's and Jon's unlikely Guard/Ork alliance (500 points of Guard and 1000 points of Orks). I've written about this kind of alliance before; it's hard to beat since each army reinforces the weaknesses of the other. These two games were marked by a major change: larger gaming tables. In the past, when most of us couldn't muster much more than 1000 points, we were playing on 4'x4' tables. This time both games were played with 4'x6' of space (one of the tables can be extended to 4'x8'). Given how cramped our games had gotten, this was a good change. It also showed Jon and me that our armies are severely lacking in one thing: transports. The time it takes to footslog across a 4'x6' table while under fire can ruin plans and decimate units.

The Guard/Orks/Marines game ran from about 7:30 PM to 12:30 PM and kept me pretty occupied, so I wasn't able to see much of the Grey Knights/Dark Eldar game. During their previous 1000 point match a few weeks ago, a lack of long range heavy firepower prevented Carl from taking out Kevin's flyers. Kevin was therefore able to dictate the conditions of close combat, avoided nearly all small arms fire, and greatly benefited from his Wyches' dodge saves (which neutralize the effectiveness of force and power weapons). The Grey Knights were wiped out while taking only 200 to 300 points of Dark Eldar with them. After the utter annihilation of the Warriors of Titan at the hands of the Pointy-Eared Perverts, Carl swore vengeance (well, as much as Carl would ever swear vengeance; he's the most mellow of us by far and a great sport).

This time Carl's prior weakness was compensated for by two shiny new Venerable Dreadnoughts with twin-linked lascannons. The Venerables blasted the flyers out of the air, spilling the Wyches out and exposing them to a fusillade from storm bolters and the Dreadknight's Gatling Psilencer. Also, inspired by my past success with Telion and his ability to individually target units of high importance, Carl proxied a Vindicare assassin who did some serious damage. From what I overheard, one of the game's highlights saw a group of Wyches attack a Venerable Dreadnought with haywire grenades. A lucky hit caused the Dreadnought to explode with the resulting explosion killing most of the Wyches (Jon loses a lot of Orks this way, too). By about 10 PM the Grey Knights had won day.

Things didn't go quite as well with the Ultramarines, although I was reasonably pleased with the night's game. Unfortunately, it's been a long time since I wasn't embarrassed. Last time Carl had the majority of his army left when he wiped me out. Going further backward in time we have the game where the Tau got completely clobbered by the Orks, the slaughter of the Tau and the Grey Knights at the hands of the Orks and the Imperial Guard, and back in December we had the massacre of the Tyranids by the guns of the Imperial Guard. In fact, the last time my army put in a good showing was in late December when the Ultramarines defeated the Orks by an extremely narrow margin.

Xenos scum *spit*

I was worried early on when I found myself facing the Guard/Ork alliance again. Fortunately, Bryce took pity on me and brought his Basilisk rather than the Manticore. I've already faced the combination of huge mobs of Orks with furious charge, a large number of attacks, and Marine-level toughness and weapons skill with the multiple strength 10 large blast templates of the Manticore. I would have been tempted to sit out the game if I had to face it again.

The Guard and Orks won the initial roll off. As usual, Jon's army filled their entire deployment zone. In the past I've typically distributed my Marines along the boundary of my own deployment zone. I've since realized that this merely serves to overstretch my forces. It ensures that I can't concentrate my firepower while allowing the Orks to charge me along a broad front over the shortest distance possible. When outnumbered, Bryce tends to sweep the majority of his army in a arc around one side of the table. This allows him to take on the enemy in smaller, more manageable pieces. I decided to attempt something similar while taking advantage of the larger board. Except for my reserve units, I set up the majority of my army in the left half of my deployment zone, which was dominated by area terrain and obstacles that blocked line of site. This had the advantage of distancing me from Bryce's lascannons and his Chimera, protected most of my forces from Jon's Lootas, and forced one of the Ork mobs to march a significant distance across the table while under fire.

I failed to seize the initiative and the Guard and Orks went first as expected. Fortunately the Emperor briefly smiled on me and their first round wasn't nearly as effective as it was last time. Although I was left with most of my army intact, my sniper Scouts were a prime target and I managed to fail four 3+ cover saves. Telion and the remaining Scout did next to nothing during the subsequent rounds, in part because I parked my Venerable Dreadnought immediately in front of them. (I felt particularly stupid about it since it wasn't the first time I've done this.) My missile launcher-carrying Devastator Squad was also a popular target and was killed off pretty quickly thanks to the Guard's "Fire On My Target" rule, which required me to re-roll successful cover saves. Like the Scouts, the Devastators did not earn back their points.

I never did trust these guys

At the beginning of my first turn, I landed a glass bottom stein... uh, my "drop pod", immediately behind enemy lines and within melta range of the Basilisk that had been hidden behind the ruins where Jon's Lootas were stationed. My multi-melta Dreadnought marched out, made the shot, and penetrated the Basilisk's armor. I rolled a two on the vehicle damage table and, thanks to the AP 1 and open-topped modifiers, I managed to... immobilize the Basilisk. That's right, the whole gambit worked perfectly so that I could immobilize a vehicle that Bryce never moves. It wasn't even denied another round of shooting. In the very next turn the Dreadnought was stunned, which ensured that one of Bryce's squads could march right up to it and destroy it with melta bombs. Never has a ploy simultaneously worked so right and yet gone so wrong. However, the tactic very nearly paid off and, had the Guard squad not destroyed the Dreadnought, I could have had a second chance to destroy the Basilisk with a close combat weapon. It's definitely a technique that's worth trying again.

By the second turn I brought the Vindicator in from reserves. Putting the tank in reserves in the first place is what I call a Maginot Line Mistake; i.e., I did with the Vindicator what I should have done during my last game against the Grey Knights. I had been worried about losing it to artillery or anti-tank weapons and kept it off the table until the second turn, which ensured that Jon's Boyz could progress far enough across the board to assault the tank after it got off a single shot. The Boyz were in cover when the Vindicator fired and Jon was able to save most of his mob. During Jon's assault on the tank, a single Boy was able to land one lucky glance that kept the tank from firing the next turn, which would have caught the Boyz in the open. Another assault caused the tank to explode, which actually killed more Boyz than the Demolisher cannon did. If Jon had not rolled that six, the Vindicator might have gone on to do a lot more.

These guys look good even when they're losing

At the halfway point I thought it was going to be a rout. I had lost a Dreadnought, my Devastator Squad had been decimated, and my Vindicator was gone. None of those units had even remotely earned back their points, although the Dreadnought failed to do so only because of the oddities of the vehicle damage table. Jon's Lootas kept my Venerable Dreadnought stunned through most of the game and eventually took both its assault cannon and its close combat weapon (I don't think I ever got the chance to fire the assault cannon). My troops weren't doing great on their armor saves or cover saves and, despite the fact that my forces inflicted a remarkable number of wounds on the Orks, Jon was making an amazing number of 4+ cover saves. It wasn't until the last third of my army was left that the statistics evened out and I started rolling fours instead of twos, Jon stopped making quite as many cover saves, and his leadership rolls started failing. The biggest break I got was that the Basilisk's shots drifted all over creation. Even when the Basilisk managed to hit the Land Raider, Bryce kept rolling "weapon destroyed" on the damage table and the Land Raider kept moving.

Next Time: Will the Greenskins and their traitorous Guard allies defeat the Emperor's Angels of Death?

The Emperor's Hammer

Every serious Warhammer 40k player has dabbled in the thoughts of owning/playing multiple armies or switching armies entirely, but there will always be that "one" army which is near and dear to your heart. For me, my friends, that army is the Imperial Guard.

We Guard players are a breed apart, because whether winning, losing, maltreated, broken, defeated, battered, bruised, underestimated, tyrannized, or oppressed we never have enough sense to give up on the Guard. It is the imagined sulfur smell and goose bumps after I have bludgeoned my opponent with a few war heads of Manticore missiles and Basilisk shells that keeps me coming back for more. Don't forget the comic relief when all hope is lost and the Guardsmen make a last ditch charge into an Ork Warboss.


Makes my eyes tear up with pride just thinking about the poor bastards.

I have had the privileged of owning several IG (Imperial Guard) armies through the years.

IG Army #1: Classic Cadians painted in the Harokoni Warhawk fashion. Frustrating army to fight. It was comprised of a small swarm of Lascannon teams with deep striking Sentinels.

IG Army #2: Catachan Devil Dogs. Flamers with flamers on top of flamers accompanying flamers with bayonets attached on the end of them. Not the most competitive army but witty to see on the battle field.

IG Army #3: Death Korps of Krieg. Imagine the sound of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse riding towards you while Bastion Breeching shells are wailing their high pitch impending doom in the air. That my friends is the making of the "Brown Note".

IG Army #4: Steel Legion, my current IG army. I do love them so. I previously posted about my Commissarka. She pretty much sets the tone for the entire army of "Mess with the Bull and you Get the Horns" or the "Huge Tracks of Land" or... well you get the point. The army is a healthy mix of point distribution: 70% Heavy support and 30% miscellaneous. Such is the proper point distribution of a poorly thought out IG army.

I can't vouch for my opponents, but I can guess facing the Guard artillery is not the most pleasant experience. In the end, that's what the Imperial Guard are all about; the artillery. It is that backbone of any competitive IG army (in my opinion) and the guardsmen should be able to support at closer range. And now with orders lasguns are even more deadly when a unit of 10 guardsman can output 30 shots! Huzzah!

Strange Alliances

Just over a week ago Bryce, Jon, Carl and I played our biweekly game of 40K. Bryce and I had gotten together a few hours earlier to watch an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The movie we watched, Gamera vs. Guiron is a complete disaster. In fact, it's such a mess that it reminds me of how Carl and I did that night against Jon and Bryce.

Since I'm trying to determine what I want my post-Space Marine army to be, I played with a borrowed Tau army rather than with my beloved Ultramarines. Since Bryce has recently equipped his basement with two playing tables, he had planned for us to play two separate 1000 point games. At one table we would pit the Tau against Carl's Grey Knights (also borrowed from Bryce) while at the other table Bryce's Imperial Guard would fight Jon's Orks. However, Jon recommended that we play in teams instead. Since he and Carl had been teamed up before, he further recommended that the Orks and the Imperial Guard ally against the Tau and the Grey Knights. Thanks to the roll of the die, the Ork/Guard alliance got the first turn.

[Image found on the Web]

Before the first shot was fired, Bryce and I knew how the game was going to turn out. Jon's Orks alone outnumbered both the Tau and Grey Knight forces. Once combined with Bryce's substantial number of Guardsmen, there would be too many targets for Carl and I to shoot at. Our best weapon against huge clusters of troops was the sole template weapon provided by the Tau Hammerhead (i.e., one of the largest targets on the board). In addition to their overwhelming numbers, Bryce brought along a Leman Russ with a Demolisher canon, a Manticore, a Basilisk, and two Sentinels with lascannons. The combination was devastating; not only would Carl and I have to face an enormous horde, we would also have to worry about tanks firing multiple high strength large blast templates at us from across the table. In other words, our opponents consisted of elements from the best long-range army in the game combined with one of the best close combat armies in the game. Our force, on the other hand, was a fraction of the size and consisted of more specialized and elite units.

The first shooting phase saw the destruction of my Hammerhead, Carl's Land Raider, and one of three Broadside Battlesuits. One of my two Fire Warrior squads was near the Land Raider when it exploded. The Dice God (who I'm pretty sure is Tzeentch) was definitely not on my side that night; in what proved to be my highest series of rolls that evening, all six rolls to wound yielded fours, fives, or sixes. I lost half the squad when the armor save rolls included the ones, twos, and threes that didn't turn up previously. One failed leadership roll later and the squad's survivors ran off the table (once again I found myself missing my Marines). When Carl and I finally got our turn, the Broadsides showed that they got their name from the fact that they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, the "elite" Fire Warriors found themselves ineffective at shooting the quickly approaching green mass, and the Grey Knights' storm bolters proved to be too few in number.

Carl and I kept up the fight, although it was a lost cause. Jon had brought his new 15 man squad of Lootas armed with strength 7 AP 4 deffguns. On a lucky streak, he frequently rolled a five or six when determining how many shots the Lootas would get (a deffgun fires D3 shots per turn). By the second turn, a quick count showed that the Lootas' 45 shots outnumbered all the shots that the combined forces of Tau and Grey Knights could muster. There weren't enough Grey Knights to handle all of the Orks and Guardsmen. The Broadsides were therefore forced to join the Fire Warriors in targeting the nearest Greenskins rather than the Guard's tanks to prevent themselves from being overrun. Carl's Dreadknight, my two Crisis Battlesuits, and our lone remaining vehicle (a Devilfish Troop Carrier) did as much damage as they could, but it simply wasn't enough. The Demolisher shells, Earthshaker shells, and Manticore rockets from Bryce's tanks gradually pulverized those units that weren't in danger of an assault by Ork Boyz while Imperial Guard squads with demolition charges joined in with a squad of Burna Boyz to whittle down the number of Grey Knights.

The outcome was inevitable. Bryce had once shared with me his opinion that Tau could not beat the Imperial Guard in a long range fight. As for the close combat-oriented Grey Knight contingent, my own experience has been that a Space Marine army at or below 1000 points will struggle due to a lack of firepower and wounds. (Admittedly this may be due to my inexperience.) I very nearly called the game when the Orks and Imperial Guard got the first turn and, thanks to a very lucky series of rolls, destroyed much of our heavy support. Those initial losses represented about 25% of our total points and much of our tank-killing ability. Once the Orks started to fall on our units, it became apparent that we had set up a very broken game by combining Imperial Guard and Orks.

As we all know, Games Workshop has designed each army with built-in strengths and weaknesses. Shooty armies like the Tau and the Imperial Guard tend to be weaker in close combat. The difference between the two is primarily that the Tau are more mobile and their troops, while smaller in number, are better armed. Orks and Tyranids, on the other hand, are designed for close combat and have fewer effective long range weapons. This is similar to one of the most popular forms of ancient Roman gladiatorial combat in which a heavily armored fighter equipped with a short stabbing sword was pitted against a lightly armored gladiator armed with a long lance and a net that could be used to snare his opponent's weapon.

[Image found on the Web]

By forming armies composed of a Tau/Grey Knights alliance and an Ork/Imperial Guard alliance, we eliminated several weaknesses from each army. Unfortunately, the Tau and the Grey Knights did not form as good a combination as the Orks and the Imperial Guard. The Grey Knights could partially compensate for the their ally's poor close combat ability, but there were very few of the elite Marines. The Tau brought some heavy weapons to the army, but railguns are not built for horde-killing and aren't as good at tank-busting as ordnance weapons. The Tau/Grey Knights army had the major disadvantage of relatively small numbers and a lack of blast templates. Unfortunately for Carl and me, the Ork/Guard army had few weaknesses.

The Orks and the Imperial Guard both contributed a huge number of troops. The Guard's tanks easily compensated for the Orks' lack of tank/squad-killing weapons and the Orks compensated for the Guard's limited close combat ability. The Guard's ordnance weapons proved to be superior to the Tau's railguns. When railguns miss, they miss entirely, whereas ordnance weapons can drift and yet still do some damage. Additionally, the ordnance weapon rule in which armor penetration is determined by rolling two D6s and picking the highest result gave a huge advantage to the Guard tanks. Since the ordnance weapons were able to dispatch our most threatening units early on, they were able to assist the Orks in eliminating the rest of our forces. By sheer force of numbers, the Orks and Guardsmen were able to overwhelm the Grey Knights. By more effectively eliminating the built-in weaknesses of their respective armies, Jon and Bryce hit us with a nearly unbeatable force.

The end result was not as bad as the infamous Tyranid vs. Imperial Guard battle, but it was pretty close. That being said, I was not as disappointed in the Tau as I was in the Tyranids. While the big bugs were wiped from the table in a relatively fair fight, the Tau were defeated under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., the deck was stacked against them). I'll probably be giving the Tau another chance this coming weekend.

First Tyranid Experience

On Monday night I played my first non-Space Marine army. Recently I realized that I should have just about everything I want to put into my Ultramarines army within less than a year (it will take me much longer than that to paint it, though). I am therefore looking for my next army and want to try out different kinds before I spend a significant amount of money.

I specifically chose to play Tyranids since I had never played with a horde army nor had I ever used a monstrous creature. My experience was... poor. Bryce's previous post pretty much sums up my experience. Even before the game I had a strong feeling that Bryce's Imperial Guard would wipe me out. This past summer, with only a couple months experience, I was able to fare relatively well against a Tyranid army that was similar in composition to the one I used last night.

Stupid bugs

I took away the following from the game:

1.) Space Marines are awesome. The worst armor save in the army is a 4+, for heaven's sake. Only the more elite Tyranid units have a 4+ or better save. Neophyte Marines still have strength 4 and toughness 4. Marines may fall back, but they never run away (unlike those stupid Hormagaunts). Heavy weapons aren't limited to heavy units or HQs; a lowly Space Marine in the basic ten man Tactical Squad can cheaply carry a lascannon and a five man Scout Squad can carry a heavy bolter or missile launcher for a few points.

As I watched my Hormagaunts and Termagants get wiped from the board by weapons that plink off Space Marine armor, and when my entire Warrior Brood was instantly killed by a Manticore's strength 10 AP4 Storm Eagle rockets, I found myself greatly missing my 3+ saves.

2.) Let me get this straight: I have a 205 point monstrous creature who only has a 3+ armor save, no invulnerable save, is very difficult to hide in cover, and can always be picked out as a separate target even if it joins another group? It has a high strength weapon (a Heavy Venom Cannon) but it's a small blast template weapon that is more likely to drift off target than to hit anything? Why am I paying so much for this thing again? Sure the thing's a bear in close combat, but what does it matter when it's forced to march across the board in the face of Krak missiles, lascannons, etc.? Its toughness 6 sounds great, but just like a power-armored Marine the creature will be wounded on a 2+ by any weapon with a strength of 8 or higher. Bryce has generously distributed such weapons throughout his Guard army.

Space Marine HQs, on the other hand, can all be mixed in with another squad (hello meat shield!). Except for Librarians, Space Marine HQs have an Iron Halo (Captains and Chapter Masters) or a Rosarius (Chaplains) that confers a 4+ invulnerable save. Granted most of them only have toughness 4 and can therefore be instantly killed by strength 8+ weapons if they fail a save, but then again unnamed Marine HQs usually cost about half as much as a Hive Tyrant. For only 125 points my Ultramarines can field Chaplain Cassius. Not only does he have a 3+ armor save and a 4+ invulnerable save, but he also has toughness 6 and the Feel No Pain special rule. And his Hellfire rounds will wound anything on a 2+. I'm pretty sure that Cassius would have gotten across the table that night when my Hive Tyrant couldn't. Or, if you have points to spare, you can spend 265 points to field Marneus Calgar; the Ultramarine's answer to the monstrous creature (more on this in a future post).

3.) Monstrous creatures don't really replace armored vehicles. Unless they can shoot directly at the rear of the vehicle, the standard weapons (lasguns, bolters, shootas, etc.) of the troops of most armies won't even go through the armor of a Rhino, let alone that of a Land Raider. However, toughness 6 Hive Tyrants and Carnifexes can be wounded even by a lowly lasgun on a roll of 6. When you have dozens of Guard firing at a Hive Tyrant, the odds are pretty good that a few sixes are going to be rolled. The high point of one of my early games was when a crippled Predator with only a storm bolter still operational finished off a Carnifex.

Additionally, a standard vehicle is guaranteed 12" of movement through clear terrain. It may not be able to fire any of its weapons, but at least you know it can move a certain distance. If a monstrous creature runs, it's a gamble whether it will move only 7", can go a full 12", or is limited to something in between.

If Chaos Daemons can manage to produce a vehicle (the Soul Grinder), then the space-faring Tyranids should be able to make a vehicle.

4.) I will definitely not be doing a horde army after I finish the Ultramarines. Not only am I too slow at painting to complete so many models in a reasonable time, but I just don't have the patience to set up and move dozens upon dozens of figures. A lot of time and care had to go into making sure that I spread the models out as much as possible to reduce the effectiveness of blast templates, which the Imperial Guard has in spades.

More and more it looks like my next army will be some sort of Marine equivalent. I'll be giving Chaos Space Marines/Chaos Legions a close look when their new codex comes out.

Favorite Past Time

One of our group's favorite past times is to comment on my female commissar's... um.. well... let's just say "Huge Tracts of Land" to quote Monty Python. I painted her to reflect these tracts and I hope I did them justice (see her above).

A female political officer in the Soviet Army was called a Kommissarka, so that is usually what we call her. The model has a special place in my army because she single handedly held out in combat with a Space Marine captain for two turns while a Sentinel exploded next to her (by a big spooty Ork Warboss, which by the way the explosion killed the Warboss and wounded the Space Marine captain). The model was one of the more expensive additions to the army because it was a very limited special gamesday release in 1998. I think the following propaganda poster sums up the attitude she carries for my army.



It is total coincidence that my figure is painted in the same color scheme as the poster, but it makes the illustration even better.

A Game so Horrible it's Noteworthy.

Gamers have been ranting about the 5th edition Tyranids since their release and James learned their shortcomings first hand last night. I won't go into great detail about the game (it's just to atrocious to speak in depth about; let's just say that the IG won the 1000 point game with 900 points still on the table). I have contemplated the oversights of the 5th edition Tyranids and here are my thoughts:

1.) Poor/few HQ choices. In lower point games it would be nice to have a balanced, low-point HQ choice that can be armed with long range weapon and close combat armament (maybe the Hive Tyrant just needs to be lower in cost).

2.) Lack of armor saves and invulnerable saves. It costs a Hive Tyrant 40 additional points to give him a 2+ save and he still doesn't have an invulnerable. The only two units in the entire army that have invulnerable saves are Zoanthropes and Swarmlords in close combat. Without tank armor I feel that more creatures should have better resilience.

3.) Drifting small blast template rule has DESTROYED Tyranids' ability to engage in any sort of heavy long-range combat. The only gun in the army of which more than one can be fielded is the Heavy Venom Cannon, which now drifts. James sadly felt the poor statistics of these weapons during the game. With a Hive Tryant and a Carnifex shooting the Heavy Venom Cannons for three turns, only two landed and he only scored one crew shaken result on a Manticore.

4.) Synapse is now almost worthless. That's all I have to say about that.

5.) Monstrous creatures are too slow. When a player is banking on the strength of a close combat creature that can only move a 6" + random d6 run per turn, the enemy can easily stay out of close combat for three turns if he/she is savvy enough.

In conclusion, I am an old Tyranid player and actually enjoyed the army, but I will wait until 6th edition Codex is released before I will ever take them as a seriously competitive army again.